Weekend Estimates: Fast and Furious Weekend

May 26th, 2013

Memorial Day weekend will be one for the record books, thanks to a gigantic opening for Fast and Furious 6 and a gaggle of good results for a trailing pack of three films. The Hangover III will pick up $42.4 million (the worst opening weekend for the franchise, but still a solid performance by any measure); Star Trek Into Darkness is looking at a good hold with around $38 million Friday-Sunday and $121 million so far; and Epic gets off to a good start with $34.2 million, which is comfortably the most ever earned by a 4th-place finisher, besting Madea's Witness Protection's opening last year. But the real accolades must be reserved for Fast and Furious.

Even with the weekend dominated by tentpoles, there is still some room for limited releases to score. Before Midnight stands out in particular with a mighty $274,000 or so from five theaters for an average of close to $55,000. Frances Ha should also come close to, or slightly top, a $10,000 theater average while playing in 60 locations.